WHITEMARSH — No one is ready to proclaim this year’s Plymouth Whitemarsh High boys lacrosse team as one that’s as talented as the one that won the last two Suburban One League American Conference titles while building a 27-game conference winning streak.

But that doesn’t mean the Colonials can’t carve out a few wins the old-fashioned way.

Sure, Jake Brown’s three goals and three assists, Ryan Kelly’s four goals and Corey Kelly’s three goals and two assists didn’t hurt.

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But on this day, the Colonials chalked up the victory to putting their collective noses to the grindstone.

“We know we’re not what we once were,” Brown said, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t work hard and get a sloppy win.

“Our main goal today was to play hard and play with intensity.”

“When we first started our program in 2004, there wasn’t a team that didn’t have better skills than us,” said PW head coach Phil Chang. “But we battled and fought hard and won some games with toughness.

“And all these years later that attitude hasn’t gone away.”

The Colonials, still smarting from Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to Wissahickon that snapped their 29-game SOL American winning streak, came out blazing Friday, getting two goals from John Walker and another from Brown to seize a 3-0 lead. And while Upper Merion would wind up tying the game on four different occasions, the visitors would never take the lead.

“We’ve been playing well,” said Vikings head coach Brady McCormick, “but we just fell asleep in this one — from beginning to end.”

The Vikings were briefly aroused, getting goals from Chris Jordan and Mikey Zadroga to pull within 4-2 in the first period. And when Trevor Kupecky scored with 12 seconds left in the half, Upper Merion knotted the score at 5.

But Corey Kelly won the ensuing draw and took the ball right down the middle of the field to score just six seconds later and send PW into the break up by a goal.

“It’s beyond me,” McCormick said. “They just walked down the middle on us for five goals, and we just waved at them.

“When our guys see the film on this game, they’re going to be disappointed.”

The Vikings kept pace with the Colonials through a back-and-forth third quarter, tying the game at 6, 7 and 8.

But then Brown decided enough was enough.

The junior attack scored twice in a 40-second span in the final minute of the quarter, and PW would not look back.

“Honestly, we didn’t have the ball that much (in the third period),” Brown said. “So when I got the ball I wanted to take it to the net hard.”

Brown then fed Ryan Kelly three different times for fourth-period goals as PW ultimately stretched its lead to 13-9 with 3:58 left.

“I just got the ball on a couple of turnovers and fed Ryan,” Brown said. “We worked on rides and clearing a lot in practice this week and they played a factor in our win.”

“Our riding was really good today,” Chang said. “We forced their poles to carry the ball a lot.

“We were relentless and forced a lot of turnovers.”

Upper Merion got late goals from Joe Mintzer and Zadroga, but PW ran out the game’s final 1:40, then celebrated a good day’s work.

THE LAX WORD: The shots were even at 34 ... Offensively, Upper Merion was led by Kupecky’s goal and five assists and Zadroga’s three goals and three assists, with Mintzer chipping in three goals and Nick Shendege contributing two goals and an assist.